Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2022-32

DARPA Innovation Fellowships

The DARPA Innovation Fellowship is a two-year position at DARPA for early career scientists and engineers. The fellows will develop and manage a portfolio of high-impact exploratory efforts to identify breakthrough technologies for the Department of Defense. Fellows will push the limits of existing technology through the rapid exploration of a high-volume of promising new ideas under DARPA’s Advanced Research Concepts (ARC) program. These projects are focused on answering high risk/high reward “what if?” questions and assessing the impact of further investment. Fellows will also have the opportunity to hang out with and learn from DARPA program managers as well as the university, industry, and non-profit performers who perform DARPA-funded research. Being a DARPA Innovation Fellow is a great way to begin a career in the sciences. DARPA Innovation Fellows have the opportunity to make extensive connections across an extraordinarily rich, technologically focused network. The fellowship is an in-person salaried position at DARPA in Arlington, Virginia.

Who may apply to become a DARPA Innovation Fellow?: Recent Ph.D. graduates and/or active-duty military with degrees in the sciences (within five years) may apply to become a DARPA Innovation Fellow. Bachelor- or master’s-level candidates with compelling submissions also may be considered. As DARPA is part of the Department of Defense, U.S. citizenship is required for the fellowship. Selected candidates will be required to undergo a background investigation. How can I learn more about becoming a DARPA Innovation Fellow? To submit your resume for consideration or to ask questions about the fellowship program, email fellowship@darpa.mil.

Breakfast with Interim Provost Atam Dhawan

https://www.njit.edu/provost/breakfast-interim-provost

Informal breakfast sessions with small groups from the NJIT community will be hosted by the Interim Provost each Tuesday from 8.30 AM to 10.00 AM at the University Club, Eberhardt Building. These breakfasts will provide NJIT faculty, staff and students the opportunity to ask questions, give feedback, and engage with the Interim Provost on their experiences, concerns, expectations and needs. While it is open to all members of the community, seats are limited each week. If you are interested in participating in this informal discussion, please submit this form. The Office of the Provost will follow up with you to confirm the date of your breakfast session.

NSF: NSF Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowships (EAR-PF); Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Grants (AAG); Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB); Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES); NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships (AAPF)

NIH: Building Infrastructure for Precision Medicine Research on Minority Health and Disparities in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-Related Dementias (ADRD) (UH2/UH3); NCI Outstanding Investigator Award (R35); The Early Detection Research Network: Biomarker Characterization Centers (U2C)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing (NGMM); DoD Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health, Investigator Initiated Research Award; Defense Sciences Office (DSO) Office-wide BAA

Department of Transportation: UTC Program Competition 2022-2026 Grants

Department of Agriculture: Conservation Reserve Program Decision Support Tools

Department of Labor: Targeted Topic Training

Department of Commerce/EDA:  Climate Program Office Research; Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2023 Funding Opportunity; FY2021 to FY2023 NOAA Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

EPA: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SMALL GRANTS PROGRAM

Department of Energy: Request for Information on the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercialization Program; Innovative Methane Measurement, Monitoring, and Mitigation Technologies (iM4 Technologies); Innovative Request for Information on Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program; Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) Solar and Wind Grid Services and Reliability Demonstration

NASA: Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics; ROSES 2022: Living with a Star Science

National Endowment of Humanities: Humanities Connections; Summer Stipends

Private Foundations: Sony Research Award Programs; Global Partnerships and Grand Challenges

Biden Signs CHIPS Act, Touts Investment In US Manufacturing: President Biden on Tuesday “signed into law a sprawling $280 billion bill aimed at bolstering American chip manufacturing to address global supply chain issues and counter the rising influence of China, part of a renewed effort by the White House to galvanize its base around a recent slate of legislative victories.” According to the Times, “The bipartisan compromise showed a rare consensus in a deeply divided Washington, reflecting the sense of urgency among both Republicans and Democrats for an industrial policy that could help the United States compete with China.” The Times adds that the President “said the bill was proof that bipartisanship in Washington could produce legislation that would build up a technology sector, lure semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States and eventually create thousands of new American jobs.” CNN reports Biden called the CHIPS and Science Act a “once-in-a-generation investment in America itself.” The bill—officially known as the CHIPS and Science Act—became law yesterday. It will provide $52 billion to subsidize U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and billions in additional funding for emerging technology research and development. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Energy Asks for New R&D in Critical Materials for Clean Energy: The Department of Energy launched its new request for information days after the passage of the CHIPS Act. The Department of Energy issued a new request for information that seeks to spur the development of more research on how to fortify the U.S.’s transition to a clean energy infrastructure, examining gaps in supply chains that process critical minerals. The agency’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy posted the RFI asking potential contractors for expert help to study alternative materials that support cleaner energy production. Other parts of the contract seek to diversify waste streams from energy usage, study decreases in overall energy consumption and analyze the market impacts of clean energy technology implementation. Some of the critical minerals that will play a major role in the development of clean energy systems include lithium, nickel and cobalt. A portion of Energy’s research of critical minerals and elements for clean energy infrastructure is funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Funding specifically for researching rare earth elements and critical minerals for sustainable energy was initially established within the Energy Act of 2020. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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House passes Inflation Reduction Act, sends it to Biden: This bill makes the largest investment ever in combatting the existential crisis of climate change.  It addresses the climate crisis and strengthens our energy security, creating jobs manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles in America with American workers.  It lowers families’ energy costs by hundreds of dollars each year. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just released its score of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, legislation which would use Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 reconciliation instructions to raise revenue; lower prescription drug costs; fund new energy, climate, and health care provisions; and reduce budget deficits.  Based on the CBO score, the legislation would reduce deficits by $305 billion through 2031 – including over $100 billion of net scoreable savings and another $200 billion of gross revenue from stronger tax compliance. More information is posted on the https://www.crfb.org/blogs/whats-inflation-reduction-act.

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New Research Points to Hidden Vulnerabilities Within Machine Learning Systems: Government agencies collect a lot of data, and have access to even more of it in their archives. The trick has always been trying to tap into that store of information to improve decision-making, which is a major focus in government these days. The President’s Management Agenda, for example, emphasizes the importance of data-driven decision-making to improve federal services. The volume of data that most agencies are working with is such that humans can’t easily tap into it for help with that decision-making. And even if they can perform searches into that data, the process is slow. Plus, because humans can’t get an overview of the entire pool of data, many of the interrelationships, causalities and influences hidden within it are lost. As such, government agencies at all levels are increasingly tapping into artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation and other similar tools to help sort, classify and mine their data to produce actionable results. For the most part, these programs have proven to be extremely successful for the agencies that deploy them. Artificial intelligence is very good at analyzing data, and tends to get even more accurate as more data is added to a system. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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National Science Foundation Facilitates US-India Tech Research Collaboration: The U.S. National Science Foundation is working to facilitate collaborative research between the United States and India in an effort to fast-track developing new technologies, tools and systems. In a partnership with six technology innovation hubs supported by the Indian Department of Science and Technology––as part of a five-year, almost $430 million investment by the Indian government––the NSF announced the selection of U.S. supplemental funding awards totaling $2.8 million to support the American portion of projects, such as those focusing on artificial intelligence, data science and edge computing. The awards will help U.S.-India collaboration on science and technology. NSF states that the collaboration between the two countries is an example of its “commitment to cultivating international partnerships that produce and benefit the scientific and technological discoveries of allies with common scientific visions and goals.” More information is posted on the NextGov website.

Question:       Can I generate budgets for multiple years from the Year-1 budget in Streamlyne?

Answer:         Yes! You only need to input the Year-1 budget and then click on the “generate all periods” button. Stremalyne will create budget sheets for the remaining periods. You can then go to “summary” under the budget tab to review budget sheets for all periods. You can also change specific budget items that you allocated in Year-1 but you do not want to continue them in the following periods.

More FAQs on Streamlyne: Please visit http://www.njit.edu/research/streamlyne/